Power plant
FEEDBACK is concerned about the revitalised threat of nuclear war, in light of the fact that UK Members of Parliament have approved a replacement to the Trident nuclear deterrent, and approved a new prime minister who is willing to use it (20 August). So we are thankful to Tim Thompson for sending us news of an affordable prophylaxis.
His local garden centre is selling “radiation absorbers”, which look like small, potted cacti. Online enquiries reveal this to be the case: on the fruitloopy fringes of the web, the humble cactus is held in high regard as a guard against all things radiative.
Advertisement
That we can see them at all is evidence that cacti absorb some radiation, yet Feedback can’t help thinking they would make for uncomfortable Personal Protective Equipment for the jobbing radiologist.
“The Independent reports that Apple is “working on making its newest iPhone waterproof, according to numerous leaks”“
The roots of these spiky amulets seem to lie in the early 1990s, when they were convenient, if useless, talismans for desks newly bathed in the glow of cathode-ray-tube monitors. Still, Feedback can’t help but wonder if perhaps this is why nuclear tests are so often performed in the desert.
Pocket protector
SPEAKING of radiation scares, Graham Ranson directs us to WaveWall, which makes phone cases that are tinfoil hats for your mobile. These armoured wallets claim to be a “stylish way of protecting yourself and your body against the harmful radiation that is produced by mobile phones”. Specifically, the part of a man’s body closest to his pocketed phone.
“I have to wonder why all of these products are targeted at men,” says Graham. “Are there any similar protections available to women? Or are female reproductive organs simply not worthy of protection?”
Feedback suspects these wares may reflect a peculiarly male anxiety. But with the rise of contactless payment systems, especially those embedded in smartphones, these Faraday cage wallets could allay a separate worry: that of accidentally buying a round of drinks when you stand too close to the bar.
Not again
TRUE to form, our discussion of recursive déjà vu continues to grow layers of bewildering self-reference. Martin Andrews writes to say that the suggestion of a guest house named “Déjà View” (30 July) reminded him of an approximately named nightclub in Dundee, UK: the Deja Vu.
“Last year it was replaced by the Beau nightclub,” writes Martin, “and having walked past the old sign for years, the first time I noticed the change of name it gave me jamais vu – a most peculiar feeling that I had never been there before.”
Star pick
AND there is still an appetite among Feedback readers to delve into the origins of “cucumber time”, a term for the silly news season that crops up across Europe. Dutchman Peter Mudde returns from holiday in time to offer his own take: “The explanation I have always heard from journalists here was that this particular time of year, to fill a newspaper journalists have to find other news, like the occasional very large cucumber grown by a hobbyist…”
Lost in translation
A FURORE has ignited over gas bills in the UK, after suppliers came unstuck in a measurement mishap. Confusion abounded when older meters, which measured gas use in cubic feet, were replaced by ones that gave readings in cubic metres.
The Financial Times that the mistake “benefited customers whose metric meters have been read as if they were imperial. But they have been detrimental to customers whose imperial meters have been read as if they were newer metric ones.”
However, the reverse is true, writes Richard Horton: “Closer inspection shows that imperial meters record in units of 100 cubic feet, equivalent to 2.83 cubic metres, so our bill was almost three times higher than it should have been.” He was duly reimbursed £1000. Feedback recalls that similar mistranslated units were responsible for sending the Mars Climate Orbiter to its fiery death. That mistake cost $125 million – will UK gas suppliers be similarly burned?
Strawberry jelly
READERS may recall Feedback’s previous forays into THISPs: truly horrible ideas for saving the planet. Bryn Glover writes in with a suggestion that while not truly horrible, may prove hard to stomach for some.
Bryn has a novel plan for ridding Norway’s fjords of unpalatable jellyfish (16 July, p 26). “Why not transfer the genes responsible for flavour from, say, raspberries or strawberries into the general jellyfish population?”
Mix the raspberry jellyfish with a few deep sea sponges and hungry Norwegians should have no problem dealing with such pesky trifles.
Into the drink
A COASTER that Colin Harding collected at the North Burleigh Surf Life Saving Club, a restaurant in Gold Coast, Australia, notes that in the past five years the club has performed “6,768 preventative rescue actions”. It also informs Colin that the club has “poured enough draught beer to fill 1,868 standard bath tubs”. What connection exists between these two facts is left to Feedback’s readers to ascertain.